Jerusalem Journal; Gold for Dome's Glitter, But Brass for Its Leaks

Jerusalem's most distinctive landmark, the gold-colored Dome of the Rock, is undergoing an expensive facelift, and, as with most things in this city, the work involves religion, politics and occasional dispute.

The problem with the 1,300-year-old shrine is that, for all its splendor, it leaks -- and rather badly at that, says Issam Awad, an architect in charge of the renovation project for the Waqf, the committee responsible for Islamic holy places here.

"Rain is the chief enemy of any historical building," said Mr. Awad, who complains that the last major restoration, three decades ago, did nothing to keep the water out. "It destroys everything -- the marble, the mosaics, the stucco works."

This time, in the process of being made water-tight, the Dome will also get a crown of true gold for the first time in well over a millennium. Aluminum for 30 Years

It was golden on its completion in 691 under the Umayyad caliph, Abd al-Malik. But that did not last long, and across most of the years it was made of lead. What now seems from a distance to be gold is merely the color of the anodized aluminum sheets that were laid across the top of the shrine as part of ineffectual repairs made in the early 1960's.

The aluminum was a mistake, Mr. Awad says. He now favors a brass dome, composed of 90 percent copper and 10 percent zinc. That should keep out the rain, he says. But once this new dome is finished, probably next year, it will be coated with an ultra-thin layer of 24-carat gold -- only 2 microns, or 8 one hundred-thousandths of an inch, thick -- requiring roughly 200 pounds of gold leaf valued at more than $1 million.

It is not for luxury's sake that real gold is being introduced, Mr. Awad insists. Rather, he says, it is an unavoidable concession to an age of mass tourism, video cameras and picture postcards. Drawback of Copper

"The problem with the copper is that oxidization will turn it a dull brown, and that is not desirable," he said. "The idea that this is a golden dome has been imprinted in people's minds since the 1960's, not just here but around the world. This color is what gives it its sense of dominance."

"Sometimes," the architect added, "when you are attempting an act of conservation, you have to keep in mind that you're conserving things for the people and not for yourself."

For most visitors to Jerusalem, regardless of faith, the Dome is an inspiring whirl of intricate tiles, color and geometry, and it stands as perhaps the city's most instantly recognizable monument. It dominates the elevated Haram al-Sharif -- the Noble Sanctuary in Arabic and one of Islam's holiest places -- known to Jews as the Temple Mount, site of the destroyed First and Second Temples.

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Muslims believe that Mohammed ascended to Heaven from the rock under the dome. Many centuries earlier, on that exact spot, Abraham is said to have prepared to sacrifice his son -- Ishmael, according to Islamic belief; Isaac, in the Jewish and Christian tradition.

The basic octagonal structure has not changed over the centuries, says Prof. Youssef Natshe, director of archaeology for the Waqf. "This is rare for Muslim sites," he said, "because each leader usually liked to add his own elements." Jordan Refused Saudi Money

That sort of proprietary attitude has not fully disappeared. Witness a dispute a few months ago between King Hussein of Jordan and King Fahd of Saudi Arabia over who would underwrite the Dome restoration, estimated at up to $10 million.

King Fahd offered to pay, but King Hussein said no thanks, reminding the Saudi leader that Jordan, while economically hard-pressed, remains the custodian of Muslim shrines in Jerusalem even though Israel has had control of the entire city since the 1967 Middle East War.

There was no small element of politics in this, given tensions between the two royal houses which, although they recently eased after King Hussein underwent cancer surgery, have been high since the leaders took opposite sides in the Persian Gulf crisis.

Ultimately Jordan prevailed, to the relief of most Palestinians, who sided with Iraq in the gulf war and who generally hold King Fahd in low esteem. Money was an issue, however, and King Hussein is reported by the Jordanian press to have sold a country house in England to raise more than $8 million for the project.

Politics and religion can collide alongside the Dome as well, as they did disastrously in October 1990 when Israeli police officers clashed with Palestinian protesters, a battle that ended with at least 17 Palestinians being shot to death. Pockmarks from police bullets remain on several marble outer tiles that ring the shrines, and Palestinian tour guides sometimes point them out to visitors as political statements.

But with or without bullet holes, all the marble is worn and will be replaced in the restoration, whose actual work is being performed by a construction company from Northern Ireland.

As a legacy of the 1990 killings, a fire-alarm system sensitive to smoke as well as heat will be installed. There were some flames two years ago when tear-gas canisters exploded, Mr. Awad says. And while his main concern is fixing the roof and preventing water damage, he adds that if there is a fire next time, he wants to be ready.

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A version of this article appears in print on September 8, 1992, on Page A00001 of the National edition with the headline: Jerusalem Journal; Gold for Dome's Glitter, But Brass for Its Leaks. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe